Groom Wars

34. Hands-Off

Throughout their first month in the mansion, the Dryad alliance had won a handful of challenges and successfully defended themselves from attacks led by the marquesses' alliance, Les Braves Hommes. The daily Dryad leaders' assembly, consisting of Leandro, Steven, Luke, and Mike, occurred at a glass patio table under the shade of a cream umbrella. The glass doors of the mansion were to Leandro's right. The pool, on his left. And scattered around them was the L-shaped building of the gymnasium and the rectangular body of the arcade.

Luke dealt cards for a game of Blackjack. Sweat glistened on his maroon skin. His brother, Mike, had put his blonde hair into a messy bun; a few escaped tendrils draped Mike's face. Water splashed as someone swam laps in the pool. Aside from the faint buzz of conversation around them, things were calm. Leandro pressed his thumb to his lips remembered the heat of Adriel's lips pressed against them. The boy had pulled Leandro into a deeper kiss, indicating that though he tried not to show it, Adriel felt something for Leandro. The thought made Leandro smile.

Steven frowned and said, "What are you grinning for? Good hand?"

"I smile as I am wont to." Leandro glanced at his cards; a five and a Seven. "Hit me," he told Luke.

Steven shook his head and muttered, "You haven't smiled in days. There's something more to this strange expression that wears my brooding brother's face."

Luke said, "Perhaps he and Adriel made up." He dealt Leandro another card, three of clubs.

Steven hummed and said, "You might be on to something, Luke." He asked Leandro, "Where did you and Adriel disappear to earlier?"

"Does it matter, brother?"

"You know what people say about the two of you."

Leandro said, "He's been ignoring me for weeks. I wanted to know why."

"And in doing so, the two of you reunited," Mike said indifferently, knitting his forehead as he pondered whether to contend with his hand or ask for another card.

Leandro said, "I wouldn't say we have reunited, but he might be open to being friends again."

Steven said, "You are better off without the kid, but since you insist on having him by your side, go on and share the details of your talk with me."

"It doesn't concern you."

"It does if you're doing something you shouldn't be doing."

Leandro said, "You've known me the longest; do you honestly think I would contemplate having sex with a boy? I've entertained women my entire life. Why would I change now?" Leandro stared at Steven, his gaze confident, lips curling into his usual smile.

Steven said, "Something about the two of you strikes me as odd. It strikes all of us as odd. Call it a basic intuition. You can say what you like, but you are bound to reveal your true intentions at some point," he paused, then added with a smile, "brother."

Leandro nodded at Luke and Mike, then said, "The two of you are close. I've seen you hug. Have people ever mistaken you for having something more?"

Luke said, "I wouldn't know. My relationship with Mike is my own. No one dictates how we should relate to each other. If I want to kiss his cheek, I will. If I want to hug him, I will. There's nothing inherently wrong with any of those actions. The problem with you is that you look at Adriel the same way I would look at a woman I'm interested in. The eyes show the heart's truth. In them, one sees that which we desperately try to hide."

Leandro said, "I appreciate the concern, gentlemen, but you're reading lines that don't exist. I'm here to meet the princess and see if she's someone I would be interested in marrying. Are Adriel and I close? I would think so. But I don't see him as a man or a woman, and I don't confine him by those terms either. Neither do I love him more than I would love one of my siblings. That's the end of it."